The present system relates to coverings for the exterior of a ship's hull; more particularly, the present system relates to coverings which protect the exterior of a ship's hull in the event of a collision with another ship or stationary object or a reef on either the port or starboard side.
In recent years, the number of oil spills from tankers has increased dramatically. One of the methods proposed for correcting this problem is to assure that tankers containing products which may pollute the ocean and surrounding beaches have double hulls. Double hulls are extremely expensive to construct and dramatically increase the weight of a ship. This increase in weight correspondingly increases the power required to propel a ship through the water and, thus, increases the shipping costs. Such shipping costs will eventually be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices.
There is, therefore, a need in the art to provide a low cost method of protecting the exterior of a ship's hull which does not require the complexities or expense of using a double-hull system. Such system should allow for the dissipation of force over a ship's hull following an impact and, secondly, should also protect the ship's hull and minimize the damage to the ship's hull should the ship be involved in collision with a stationary object or another ship.